December 2017

Newsletter
From the Desk of the Community Lay Director: 

Wow, where has the time gone? 

I just finished a great Thanksgiving celebration (Georgia Bulldogs won their game), put up the Christmas tree, and now am getting ready to welcome December. 

Our December Christmas Gathering will be at Wesley United Methodist Church this Friday, December 1 st . We hope to see a lot of you there to share this special time of the year with members of your Emmaus Family. 

We have not seen some of you in a while. Bring your covered dish and join us.

It’s time to decide on the Spring Walks. Your Board will meet on December 2 nd . You need to let us know your opinions about the Walks by speaking to us, sending us e-mails, and by turning in those treasured applications. 

With God’s direction we will make the best decision!

I have shared with you my concern for the future of our Emmaus Community. I have given my testimony about how important Emmaus is in my life, how it affected me 22 years ago, and how I try to share with others the Emmaus Experience. I pray every day that God continues to show our community what our future is. 

We have received your votes for the new Board Members. We will tabulate them, get in contact with the applicants, do a little shuffling, and have the announcement for you very quickly.

I am pleased to turn over the Board Chair position to Phil Scott. I feel that after prayer, God led him to accept this position. I look forward to the direction he and the Board will take our Community in 2018.

This is my last article as your Board Chair. It has been my honor to help our community in this position. I have tried to honor God by seeking his guidance in all that we have done. 

Have a very Merry Christmas this year. Remember to spend time with your family during this holiday season.  

Come on 2018!  

DeColores,
Mike
Upcoming Events
Community Gatherings              

December 1st--Wesley UMC at Frederica 7 PM
January 5th--Blackshear UMC 7 PM

If you would like to offer your church to host a Gathering in the future, or would be interested in sharing a Fourth Day testimony, please contact David DuBois for more information regarding what is required of a host church.
Reflections from the Heart
Christmas is Coming!
Trisa Chancey
GIWTE #2
Table of Mary
Where are you on the Christmas anticipation spectrum?

Do you say with Scrooge, “Bah, humbug?” Or do you side more with Tiny Tim, saying, “God bless us, every one?”

At the beginning of Charles Dickens’  Christmas Carol  both Scrooge and Tiny Tim have firmly held beliefs that they share readily with those around them. By the end of the story, Scrooge’s opinion about Christmas has changed. Tiny Tim’s has not.

Does your Christmas attitude need a little adjusting this year? How will you accomplish the change? Listening to our local Christian radio station, I was struck with their idea of letting Thanksgiving carry over into Christmas. Approach Christmas with a thankful heart rather than a list of “wants.”

As my daughter Mary and I decorated our Christmas tree this year, one of the ornaments she pulled out of the box was a candy cane with a crown of thorns attached. Mary knew the candy cane represented the shepherd’s staff. And she knew the crown of thorns was part of the story of Jesus’ death. But she couldn’t understand why they were together on one ornament. I reminded Mary that Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. But we can’t forget that he was born to die for our sins. The crown of thorns is a reminder of that.

Let Jesus be your guide throughout this Christmas season. Let him take you from the crèche to the cross, and beyond. Listen for his voice urging you to do the good works he has prepared in advance that you should do, and given you the gifts you need to accomplish.

And remember that one of your gifts is the fact that God holds you in His arms.

And say with Tiny Tim, “God bless us, every one.”

DeColores!
THE CHRISTMAS STORY

Click HERE to watch "Christmas According to Kids" by Southland Christian Church

Luke 2:1-20 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

The Birth of Jesus

1  About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books.  2  These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

3  Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed.  4  So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David’s hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David’s family.

5  Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby,  6  and while they were there,  7  she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds
8  That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep.  9  All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord’s glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened.  10  But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy.  11  This very day in King David’s hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.  12  You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.”

13  Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

14  “Praise God in heaven!
Peace on earth to everyone
      who pleases God.”

15  After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.”  16  They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.

17  When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him.  18  Everyone listened and was surprised.  19  But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.

20  As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.
Golden Isles Walk to Emmaus Board Meeting

The next GIE Board Meeting will be held December 2 at 9 AM at Brunswick FUMC, Miller Building.

Emmaus community members are always welcome at Golden Isles Emmaus Board meetings, which are normally held the third Saturday of each month at the Miller Building behind Brunswick First United Methodist Church.